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MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT 



THE LIFE AND SERVICES 



HONORABLE 

MAJ. GEN. SAMUEL ELBERT 

OF GEORGIA 



I 



CpY 

CHARLES C. JONES, JR., LL. D. 



An Address delivered before The Georgia Historical Society, 
at Savannah, on the 6th of December, 1886 



PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 

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2Dt)e HibereiDe pregg, CambriDge 



MDCCCLXXXVII 



To THE 

HONORABLE GENERAL HENRY R. JACKSON, 

Of Savannah, Georgia, 

PRESIDENT OF THE GEOKGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

IS COKDIALLY INSCRIBED. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 



Mb. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen : 

Responding to the flattering invitation ex- 
tended by the Lecture Committee of this So- 
ciety, I come to-night, my friends, to recall the 
image of one who, a century ago, was the hon- 
ored chief magistrate of this commonwealth, — 
who acted a conspicuous part in our colonial 
struggle for independence, — who was numbered 
amonff the earliest and the most zealous " Sons 
of Liberty," — whose reputation, both civil and 
military, was free from all alloy, — who bore 
himself on every occasion as a courageous man 
and a worthy citizen, — who sleeps in an un- 
marked grave within cannon-range of this Hall 
in which we are now assembled to render tribute 
to his virtues, — and of whom, so far as our in- 
formation extends, we possess no portrait save 
such as his own brave hand has painted on the 
historic canvas. 



To the Continental Army Georgia furnished 
only two officers who attained the rank of Brig- 



6 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

adier-General. They were Laclilan Mcintosh 
and Samuel Elbert. Both were excellent sol- 
diers, sterling patriots, and influential citizens. 
Their services alike in peace and in war were 
held in high repute. It is of the latter of them 
that we would speak. 

Born in the province of South Carolina seven 
years after Oglethorpe had planted his colony 
upon Yamacraw Bluff, and of English parent- 
age, his youth was spent in the Parish of Prince 
William, where his father, a Baptist clergyman, 
had charge of a congregation. Of the early life 
of Samuel Elbert but little is known. While 
still a lad he was deprived by death of both his 
parents. In quest of employment he repaired to 
Savannah, in Georgia, where his steady habits, 
energy, honesty, and upright conduct soon com- 
mended him to general favor. There, entering 
upon a commercial life, by his integrity and de- 
votion to business he won the confidence and 
secured preferment at the hands of those with 
whom he was associated. For several years an- 
tecedent to the outbreak of the Revolutionary 
War he was recognized as a leading and pros- 
perous merchant in the commercial metropolis of 
the province. With the Indians his trade rela- 
tions were extensive. His marriage with Miss 
Elizabeth Rae confirmed his social position and 
influence. While still a young man he mani- 
fested a decided taste for military affairs ; and, 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 7 

during the latter years of Governor Wright's ad- 
ministration, held a captain's commission in a 
company of Grenadiers. 

Savannah was then the capital of Georgia, 
and the home of considerable wealth and refine- 
ment. The only town which aspired to a rivalry 
with it for the trade of the colony was Sun- 
bury, situated near the mouth of Midway River. 
When the disagreements between England and 
her American colonies became serious, and public 
sentiment was divided. Captain Elbert promptly 
enrolled himself among the " Sons of Liberty." 
Of the Council of Safety which convened on 
the 22d of June, 1775, and was composed of 
such influential patriots as Noble W. Jones, 
Archibald Bulloch, John Houstoun, William 
Ewen, Joseph Clay, Edward Telfair, George 
Walton, and Joseph Habersham, he was an ef- 
ficient member. By the action of this body was 
Georgia placed in correspondence with the Con- 
tinental Congress and with the Councils of 
Safety of the other revolting provinces. Then 
was a union flag defiantly hoisted upon a liberty 
pole. Then were thirteen patriotic toasts pro- 
posed, and responded to by salutes from two 
field-pieces and by martial music. Then were 
resolutions adopted pledging Georgia to the 
common cause of American liberty. 

To the Provincial Congress, which assembled 
in Savannah on the 4th of July in the same 



8 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

year, Captain Elbert was a delegate. This was 
Georgia's first secession convention. It commit- 
ted the province to positive sympathy and con- 
federated alliance with the twelve sister Ameri- 
can colonies ; — practically annulled within her 
limits the operation of the objectionable acts 
of Parliament ; — questioned the supremacy of 
British rule, and inaugurated measures intended 
to accomplish the independence of the planta- 
tion and its erection into the dignity of a State. 
By that Congress was Samuel Elbert chosen a 
member of the Council of Safety charged with 
the conduct of public affairs and empowered to 
provide for the common defense. The organi- 
zation of the militia enlisted the liveliest inter- 
est, and the most potent measures at command 
were adopted by this Council to enroll, officer, 
and equip the arms-bearing population of the 
province.^ All vessels which would engage to 
import war materials were declared exempt from 
the penalties of the non-importation agreement, 
and Samuel Elbert, Edward Telfair, and Joseph 
Habersham were appointed a committee to sup- 
ply Georgia with arms and ammunition. They 
were authorized to contract for the purchase of 
four hundred muskets with bayonets, twenty 

1 A committee, consisting of Stephen Drayton, Samuel Elbert, 
Dr. Nathan Brownson, and Peter Tarlin, was raised and com- 
missioned to prepare a report upon the militia of the province, 
with such suggestions as might be deemed proper for its efficient 
organization. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 9 

thousand pounds of gunpowder, and sixty thou- 
sand pounds of cannon-balls, bullets, bar-lead, 
grape and swan shot. The battalion raised un- 
der the resolution of the Continental Congress 
for the protection of Georgia was organized on 
the 7th of January, 1776, by the enrollment of 
eight companies, fully officered, and by the ap- 
pointment of Lachlan Mcintosh as Colonel, Sam- 
uel Elbert as Lieutenant-Colonel, and Joseph 
Habersham as Major. From this time until the 
conclusion of the Revolutionary War Colonel 
Elbert was actively engaged in the military ser- 
vice of the struggling confederacy. 

On the 19th of May, 1776, Major Joseph 
Habersham married Miss Isabella Rae, — a sis- 
ter-in-law of Colonel Elbert. This cemented a 
friendship already existing between that officer 
and Major Habersham's younger brother, — 
Lieutenant John Habersham, — who was soon 
announced as Brigade Major of the Georgia 
forces upon the Continental establishment. Dur- 
ing their joint service in Georgia these officers 
were at all times associated upon terms of the 
closest intimacy, and together shared the com- 
mon peril. 

The first passage at arms in Georgia between 
the King's soldiers and the rebels occurred at 
Savannah, early in March, 1776. Only a little 
while before, Governor Wright, escaping from 



10 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

confinement, sought and found refuge on board 
the armed ship Scarborough, — Captain Bar- 
clay, — lying in Tybee roadstead. Influenced 
by the representations of the fugitive governor, 
and anxious to procure supplies for their troops. 
Captain Barclay and Major Grant resolved to 
obtain by force what their negotiations had 
failed to secure. Many vessels laden with rice 
were then at anchor near the Savannah wharves 
and along the opposite side of the river. So 
unsettled was the political situation that they 
were forbidden by the Council of Safety to pro- 
ceed to sea. Purposing the capture of these 
vessels and their cargoes. Captain Barclay — at- 
tended by his fleet, and accompanied by Majors 
Maitland and Grant in command of between two 
and three hundred light infantry and marines 
conveyed in two transport ships — ascended the 
Savannah River and actually took possession of 
some of them. Without recounting the details 
of the affair, suffice it to say that the designs of 
the enemy were thwarted mainly through the 
vigilance of Colonel Mcintosh, supported by 
Lieutenant-Colonel Elbert and Major Haber- 
sham. In obedience to orders issued by the 
Council of Safety, many of these rice-laden ves- 
sels were burnt, and the enemy was kept at bay 
by a battery of three 4:-pounder guns planted 
on Yamacraw Bluff and by a force of three 
hundred men there embodied. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. \\ 

St. Augustine, — the chief town of Florida, 
— with its garrison of British troops, Indians, 
and Loyalists, was a thorn in the side of Geor- 
gia. Thence were projected marauding parties 
which, time and again, invaded the southern 
portions of the province, robbing and murder- 
ing the inhabitants. After the successful de- 
fense of the fort on Sullivan's Island, General 
Charles Lee conceived the idea of subjugating 
East Florida. To that end he ordered a concen- 
tration of the forces of South Carolina and 
Georgia. Their advance, however, was counter- 
manded at Sunbury. 

Colonel Lachlan Mcintosh's promotion to the 
grade of Brigadier-General and his assignment 
to the command of all the Georgia troops serv- 
ing on the Continental establishment, gave great 
offense to Button Gwinnett who had been an 
avowed candidate for that position. Elected on 
the 4th of March, 1777, by the Council of 
Safety, President and Commander-in-Chief of 
Georgia, to serve as such until a governor could 
be regularly chosen in accordance with constitu- 
tional provisions, he determined to signalize his 
administration by an expedition against St. 
Augustine. The project was pleasing to the 
public, and an ambitious desire to overrun East 
Florida and annex it to Georgia took firm pos- 
session of the breast of the acting governor. 
Instead of entrusting the command of this ex- 



12 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

pedition to General Mcintosh, who, as the rank- 
ing mihtary officer of the forces present for the 
protection of Georgia, was in all fairness and in 
accordance with established usage entitled to ex- 
pect and to claim it, Gwinnett, wishing to mortify 
his successful competitor for the honor of which 
we have spoken, and manifestly intending to 
heap an affront upon him, publicly announced 
that he would in person direct the army of occu- 
pation. General Mcintosh was not permitted 
even to accompany the expedition. Saw-pit Bluff 
— twelve miles from the mouth of the river St. 
John — was designated as the place, and the 
12th of May as the time, for the rendezvous of 
the forces which were to participate in the con- 
templated subjugation of East Florida. Colonel 
Baker, with the Georgia militia, was directed to 
march by land, while Colonel Elbert was ordered 
to conduct the Continental troops by water to 
the point indicated. Near Nassau River the 
former officer was met and routed by Colonels 
Brown and McGirth. Colonel Elbert was sore 
perplexed upon finding that he was placed in 
command of the Continental forces detailed for 
this expedition, to the exclusion of General Mc- 
intosh, who, as his superior officer, was entitled 
to that distinction. He was also concerned at 
the abnormal situation consequent upon orders 
promulgated by President Gwinnett, by which 
he was required to report directly to and receive 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 13 

his instructions from the President and Council. 
On the 24th of April he addressed an official 
communication ^ to General Mcintosh, advising 
him of the disagreeable and unsatisfactory phght 
in which he found himself, and expressing his 
regrets that his orders did not come through his 
commanding general. He even ventured to call 
the attention of the President and Council to 
this irregularity. Gwinnett, however, controlled 
that body : and, being of an imperious will and 
implacable in his hate, continued to supplant 
General Mcintosh and to subject him to at least 
apparent humiliation. 

Having advanced as far south as the north 
end of Amelia Island, — having there been in- 
formed of the defeat of Colonel Baker, — find- 
ing the enemy in force and on the alert, — per- 
ceiving that a hot sun and exposure were causing 
much sickness in his command, — well knowina: 
that his provisions were being rapidly consumed, 
and seeing small prospect of forcing the coast- 
guard and obtaining a fresh supply from the 
country adjacent to the mouth of the St. John, — 
and advised that war- vessels were standing on 
and off waiting to intercept his galleys should 
they attempt to approach the point of rendez- 
vous. Colonel Elbert wisely resolved to give over 
his purpose and retire to Frederica. Thence 
he returned to Savannah. Thus ended an ex- 

1 See MS. Order Book of Colonel Elbert. 



14 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

pedition conceived in ambition and jealousy, 
planned without due consideration, marred in 
its execution, and utterly without benefit in its 
results. 

Gwinnett was a candidate for the office of 
Governor of Georgia. John Adam Treutlen 
opposed him, and was elected by a handsome 
majority. Mcintosh was numbered among his 
ardent supporters. He did not hesitate openly 
to avow his gratification at Treutlen's success. 
In fact, he publicly denounced Gwinnett in un- 
measured terms. The quarrel between these 
gentlemen culminated on the 15th of May, when 
Gwinnett challenged Mcintosh to mortal combat. 
They met the next morning at sunrise within the 
present limits of the city of Savannah. Pistol 
shots were exchanged at the short distance of 
twelve feet. Both were wounded in the thigh, 
— Mcintosh dangerously, Gwinnett fatally. The 
former was confined to his couch for some time, 
and the latter, after lingering for twelve days, 
died of his hurt. So intense was the excite- 
ment caused by this duel and the death of Gwin- 
nett that General Mcintosh, after indictment, 
trial, and acquittal, acting under the advice of 
friends, left Georgia for a season. Repairing 
to the headquarters of General Washington, he 
was by him assigned to duty in the western dis- 
tricts of Vii'ginia and Pennsylvania. 

Upon the departure of General Mcintosh 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 15 

Colonel Elbert succeeded to the command of 
the Continental forces in Georgia. His head- 
quarters were at Savannah, although he was fre- 
quently on the southern frontier of the State 
which was harassed by incursions of the enemy 
issuing from Florida. Recruiting officers ex- 
perienced much difficulty in filling the ranks of 
companies attached to the battalions authorized 
by Congress. The bounty and pay allowed by 
the general government for a year's service did 
not equal the sum offered by a militiaman for 
a substitute to take his place for only three 
months. Many, disposed to enter the army, pre- 
ferred enlistment for a short term with the mili- 
tia, where they could act pretty much as they 
pleased and remain near their homes, to being 
mustered into the regular service for a period of 
three years, when they would be subjected to 
strict discipline and find themselves Hable to 
duty in distant fields. The paper currency, too, 
which at first was accepted at par in defrayal of 
all expenses, was now rapidly depreciating in 
value. 

In April, 1778, General Robert Howe, then 
in command of the Southern Department and 
having his headquarters at Savannah, was in- 
formed that General Prevost was about to set 
out from Florida to invade Georgia. To repel 
this anticipated incursion, and thereafter to move 
forward for the subjugation of East Florida, 



16 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

Governor Houstoun and General Howe resolved 
upon the immediate mobilization of the military 
strength of the State. Of the Georgia militia 
the governor proposed to take personal com- 
mand. When summoned to the field they did 
not aggregate more than three hundred and fifty 
men, and many of them were poorly armed and 
badly disciplined. The Continental forces within 
the limits of the State, numbering about five 
hundred and fifty, were to be led by Colonel 
Elbert. They were to be supplemented by two 
hundred and fifty Continental infantrymen, and 
thirty artillerists with two field-pieces, drawn 
from South Carolina and commanded by Col- 
onel Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. The Car- 
olina militia, under Colonels Bull and William- 
son, were ordered to rendezvous at Purrysburg, 
on the Savannah River. Fort Howe, on the Ala- 
tamaha, was selected as the place of concentra- 
tion. 

On the 14th of April Colonel Elbert reached 
that point with his command. The next day, 
learning that several of the enemy's vessels were 
lying at and near Frederica, he detailed three 
hundred men, exclusive of officers, with fifty 
rounds of ammunition and six days' rations 
apiece, and with no baggage except their blan- 
kets, and a detachment of artillerists with two 
field-pieces, to proceed to Darien, and there, go- 
ing on board the galleys, to advance to Pike's 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. Vj 

BlufP, distant rather more than a mile from Fred- 
erica.^ This expedition the colonel conducted in 
person. What subsequently transpired may best 
be told in the language of Colonel Elbert, who, 
in a letter to General Howe, communicated the 
following interesting details of a gallant ex- 
ploit : — 

"Frederica, April 19th, 1778. 

" Dear General, — I have the happiness to 
inform you, that about 10 o'clock this forenoon 
the brigantine Hinchinbrooke, the sloop Rebecca, 
and a prize brig, all struck the British tyrant's 
colors and surrendered to the American arms. 

" Having received intelhgence that the above 
vessels were at this place, I put about three hun- 
dred men, by detachment from the troops under 
my command at Fort Howe, on board the three 
galleys, — the Washington, Captain Hardy, — 
the Lee, Captain Braddock, — and the Bulloch, 
Captain Hatcher ; — and a detachment of artil- 

^ The following is the order of detail : — 

"Head Quarters Fort Howe. 
15th April, 1778. 
"A Detachment of three Field Officers, 6 Captains, Eighteen 
Subalterns, twenty four Sergt", two Fifers, 6 Drummers, and 
Three Hundred rank and file by Detail from the line, also a 
Detachment of Artillery with two field pieces, to be in readiness 
to march early tomorrow ; — each man with 50 rounds of Am- 
munition and 6 Days Provisions. This Party are to carry no 
Baggage except Blankets. 

" By order of the Colonel Commanding 

John Habersham, Brigade Major" 
See MS. Order Book of Colonel Elbert. 



18 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

lery with two field-pieces, under Captain Young, 
I put on board a boat. With this little army we 
embarked at Darien, and last evening effected 
a landing at a bluff about a mile below the town, 
leaving Colonel White on board the Lee, Captain 
Melvin on board the Washington, and Lieuten- 
ant Petty on board the Bulloch, each with a 
sufficient party of troops. Immediately on land- 
ing I dispatched Lieutenant-Colonel Rae and 
Major Roberts, with about one hundred men, 
who marched directly up to the town and made 
prisoners three marines and two sailors belong- 
ing to the Hinchinbrooke. 

*' It being late, the galleys did not engage 
until this morning. You must imagine what my 
feeHngs were to see our three little men-of-war 
going on to the attack of these three vessels who 
have spread terror on our coast, and who were 
drawn up in order of battle : but the weight of 
our metal soon damped the courage of these 
heroes, who soon took to their boats, and, as 
many as could, abandoned the vessels with every- 
thing on board, of which we immediately took 
possession. What is extraordinary, we have not 
one man hurt. Captain Ellis, of the Hinchin- 
brooke, is drowned, and Captain Mowbray, of 
the Rebecca, made his escape. As soon as I see 
Colonel White, who has not yet come to us with 
his prizes,^ I shall consult with him, the three 

1 These prizes, by direction of Colonel Elbert, were conducted 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 19 

other officers, and the commanding officers o£ 
the galleys, on the expediency of attacking the 
Galatea, now lying at Jekyll." 

Seeing the preparations made for her capture, 
the Galatea took counsel of her fears and de- 
parted. This gallant exploit inspired the troops, 
and was hailed by General Howe as a good omen 
of the success which he believed would crown 
his demonstration against Florida.^ The stores 
acquired with these vessels were most opportune. 

Informed of the presence of the American 
forces at Fort Howe, General Prevost paused in 
his movement, and busied himself with repairing 
his defensive works on the rivers St. Mary and 
St. John, with mounting guns at Fort Tonyn, 
and with maturing plans for the protection of 
East Florida. Neither at St. Mary nor at Fort 
Tonyn, however, did General Howe encounter 

to Sunbury for safe-keeping, and were there placed in charge of 
Major John Jones. 

See MS. Order Book of Colonel Elbert. 

1 On the 13th of May, 1778, at Fort Howe, General Howe 
published the following complimentary order : — 

" The General thinks proper to express in public orders how 
highly he approves the conduct of Colonel Elbert in the late Ex- 
pedition against the Enemy at Frederica, and with equal pleasure 
applauds the spirited behaviour of the Officers and Men both of 
the Galleys and of the Army who were upon that Command. 
This he would certainly have done earlier, but his absence from 
the Army, and the hurry he has been in since his arrival, de- 
prived him until now of that satisfaction." 

See MS. Order Book of Colonel Elbert. 



20 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

any serious resistance from the enemy. Prevost 
prudently withdrew his forces from his advanced 
posts, and covered the approaches to St. Augus- 
tine. From their position on Alligator Creek 
Colonel Clarke gallantly but vainly attempted 
the dislodgment of the English regulars and 
Loyalists. It was evidently the intention of the 
British general to ofPer no determined opposition 
until he had enticed the Americans as far as the 
river St. John.^ There he hoped to turn upon 
them and inflict severe loss, if not utter anni- 
hilation. Howe's command was by this time in 
a wretched and despondent pHght. A malarial 
region, intense heat, bad water, insufficient shel- 

1 Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Habersham, who was then serving 
with Colonel Elbert, writuig from the " Camp on the South side 
of Satilla River," under date " 17th June, 1778," says : " We 
are now, a part of us, on the south side of Satilla, within 15 
miles of Fort Tonyn. . . . Genl Howe with the Carolina Bri- 
gade will be here this evening, and the Governor with the MUitia 
was on last Tuesday at Read's Blufif, so that I hope we shall 
very shortly be able to give a good account of Col Brown and 
his Scout, unless he should prudently make his escape to his 
good Friends the Red Coats, who, I fancy, will hardly risk a 
Battle on this side of St. Johns. . . . Colonel Elbert is hearty. 
He frets a little on account of Howe's and the Governor's tar- 
diness." 

From Fort Tonyn, on the 5th of July, 1778, he writes : " The 
Governor and the Militia are to join us to-day. I hope the Cap- 
tain and Major General will lay their heads together so that we 
may go on or return, for I am tired of staying here." 

To the courtesy of William Neyle Habersham, Esqr., of Sa- 
vannah, am I indebted for access to the original letters from 
which the above extracts are made. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 21 

ter, and salt meat so impaired the health of his 
troops that the hospital returns showed one half 
the men upon the sick-list. Many had been left 
at Fort Howe, incapacitated by disease. Through 
lack of forage thirty-five horses had perished, 
and those which remained were so enfeebled that 
they were incapable of transporting the cannon, 
ammunition, provisions, and baggage of the 
army. The soldiers were in large measure dis- 
pirited and distracted. The command was rent 
by factions, and there was no leading spirit to 
mould its discordant elements into a harmonious 
and an efficient whole. Governor Houstoun, re- 
membering the powers conferred by his execu- 
tive council, refused, with his mihtia, to receive 
orders from General Howe. Colonel William- 
son's troops would not yield obedience to a Con- 
tinental officer, and Commodore Bowen insisted 
that the naval forces were distinct from and in- 
dependent of the land service. Thus was the 
general compelled to rely mainly upon the Con- 
tinental troops of Colonels Elbert and Pinck- 
ney. Had a masterly mind been present, quickly 
would these ridiculous and unpatriotic factions 
have been consolidated ; rapidly, by stern or- 
ders and enforced obedience, would the army in 
all its parts have been unified and brought into 
efficient subjection. But there was no potent 
voice to evoke order out of confusion, — no iron 
will to dominate over the emergency. General 



22 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

Howe simply accepted the situation as he found 
it, and, discouraged by perplexing delays, ap- 
palled by the sickness of the troops, embarrassed 
by the want of cooperation among subordinates, 
the lack of stores, and the inefficiency of the 
transportation department, and uncertain as to 
the future, convened a council of war at Fort 
Tonyn on the 11th of July, to pass upon the 
expediency, if not the necessity, of abandoning 
the expedition. That council having resolved 
that its further prosecution was impracticable, 
the troops were, on the 14th of July, 1778, 
ordered to return to their former stations.^ 

1 The following is the order published by General Howe upon 
the termination of the campaign: — 

"Camp at Fokt Tonyn, lAth July, 1778. 
^^ Parole, Savannah. 

" The General leaves the Army to day. He parts with it with 
reluctance and from no other motive than to make those pro- 
visions at proper places necessary to its accommodation. He 
embraces this opportunity to testify how highly he approves the 
Conduct both of Officers and Men whom he had the honour 
to command. The readiness with which the Officers received 
orders, and the punctuality with which they executed them, gave 
pleasure to the General, and did honour to themselves. The 
cheerfulness with which the Men supported a long and fatiguing 
march under a variety of unavoidable yet distressing circum- 
stances, gives them an undoubted claim to the characters of Good 
Soldiers, and is a happy presage of the service they will in future 
render to the Glorious Cause in which they are engaged. Com- 
mandants of Brigades will take care that this order be made 
known both to Officers and Men. 

« N. EvELEiGH, Col : & D. A. G." 

See MS. Order Book of Colonel Elbert. 

The above order was evidently intended for the troops serv- 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 23 

Thus, for the third time, was the hope of the re- 
duction of St. Augustine and the dispersion of 
the British forces in East Florida relinquished. 
The most that can be said in favor of this cam- 
paign, with its lamentable lack of preparation, 
want of management, disagreement between com- 
manders, surprising mistakes, inexcusable delays, 
vexatious disappointments, and fruitless expen- 
diture of men and munitions, is that it retarded 
the inroads of the enemy. This suspension of 
hostilities, however, was of short duration. 

In the fall of 1778, Lord George Germain re- 
solved to transfer the theatre of active warfare 
from the Northern to the Southern provinces. 
His hopes were fixed upon the early conquest of 
Georgia and South Carolina. For the accom- 
plishment of this purpose General Augustine 
Prevost — then in command of East Florida — 
was instructed to invade Georgia from the South : 
and, having captured Sunbury, — a seaport of 
considerable wealth and importance, — he was 
ordered to move upon Savannah. Colonel Arch- 
ibald Campbell, sailing with a formidable force 
from New York, was to supplement this demon- 
stration by a direct attack upon the commercial 
metropolis of Georgia. Thus caught between 
the upper and the nether millstone, it was be- 
ing upon the Continental establishment. It could scarcely, in 
all fairness, have been addressed to the militia and the naval 
forces. 



24 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

lieved that Georgia would speedily and surely be 
ground down into absolute submission to British 
dominion. The two detachments sent forward 
by General Prevost, — one by sea, conducted by 
Lieutenant-Colonel Fuser, and ordered to reduce 
Sunbury, the other led by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Mark Prevost, penetrating by land and com- 
missioned to devastate the lower portions of 
Georgia, — after forming a junction at Sunbury, 
were directed to take the town of Savannah in 
reverse, thus cooperating with Colonel Campbell 
who was expected at the same time to attack 
from the north. Through a want of concert in 
action these Florida columns failed of their ob- 
jective. Opposed by Colonels Baker and White 
and by General James Screven, and resisted by 
Lieutenant-Colonel John Mcintosh, commanding 
Fort Morris at Sunbury, — all acting under the 
orders of Colonel Elbert, who had taken post at 
the Great Ogeechee crossing and fortified that 
position with the intention of delivering battle 
there if the enemy succeeded in penetrating so 
far, — Prevost and Fuser, failing to effect the 
contemplated junction, abandoned the siege of 
Sunbury, and, retreating upon Florida, did not 
unite with Campbell in his attack upon Savan- 
nah. 

By the 27th of December, 1778, the fleet 
transporting the expeditionary force under the 
command of that capable of&cer had crossed the 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 25 

bar and lay at anchor near the mouth of the 
Savannah River. General Howe hastily concen- 
trated all his available forces for the defense of 
the capital of Georgia. At day-break, on the 
morning of the 29th, the first division of the 
British army — composed of all the light in- 
fantry, the New York volunteers, and the first 
battalion of the 71st regiment, and led by Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Maitland — effected a landino- in 
front of Girardeau's plantation. Thence a nar- 
row causeway, about eight hundred yards long 
and with a ditch on each side, led through the 
swamp and rice-fields to Girardeau's residence, 
which stood upon a bluff some thirty feet above 
the level of the river delta. Rushing: forward 
the enemy quickly succeeded in dislodging the 
small American party, under Captain Smith, 
which had been detailed to hold this position, 
and scaling the bluff gained possession of the 
high ground. This accomplished, the approach 
to Savannah was facile. Ignoring the strategic 
importance of this locality, and disregarding the 
earnest entreaty of Colonel Elbert that Brewton 
Hill — or Girardeau's Bluff as it was then called 
— should be fortified and defended to the last 
extremity. General Howe contented himself with 
posting only forty men there, and, disposing his 
army in the vicinity of Savannah, awaited the 
advance of Colonel Campbell. The British out- 
numbered the American forces. General Howe 



26 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

formed his line of battle across the road leading 
from Brewton Hill and Thunderbolt to Savan- 
nah, at a point about eight hundred yards dis- 
tant from the gate opening into Governor 
Wright's plantation. One brigade — consisting 
chiefly of the regiments of Colonels Huger and 
Thompson, and commanded by the former — 
was stationed on the right. The other brigade 
— composed of portions of the first, second, 
third, and fourth battalions of Georgia Conti- 
nentals, and under the command of Colonel El- 
bert — was posted on the left, its right resting 
upon the road and its left extending to the rice- 
fields of Governor Wright. Behind the left 
wing of this brigade was the fort on the Sa- 
vannah River bluff. The town of Savannah, en- 
circling which were the remains of an old and 
abandoned line of intrenchments, was in the rear 
of the army. A few field-pieces were disposed 
at advantageous points. Although informed by 
Colonel George Walton, who, with one hundred 
Georgia miUtia, was posted on the South Com- 
mon behind the right of the American line, that 
there was a private way through the swamp, by 
means of which the enemy could pass from the 
high grounds adjacent to Brewton Hill and gain 
his rear, and although urged by him to have this 
approach properly guarded. General Howe neg- 
lected to attend to the matter, and thus com- 
mitted another fatal error in the conduct of this 
important affair. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 27 

No position more apt for defense could have 
been selected in the entire neighborhood than 
the bluff at Girardeau's plantation.^ A regiment 
there embodied, with a few pieces of field artil- 
lery advantageously distributed along the brow, 
would have utterly shattered the advancing col- 
umn of the enemy moving along a narrow rice- 
dam nearly half a mile in length, and with 
marish and impracticable grounds on either 
hand. The disparity between the contending 
forces rendered it all the more obligatory upon 
the American general to have taken advantage 
of this locality. It was the key to Savannah. 
Repulsed from this landing place, and defeated 
in the effort to obtain a base of operations here, 
the acquisition of Savannah would have proved 
to Colonel Campbell a difficult problem. Colo- 
nel Elbert realized this fact, and pressed it upon 
the attention of General Howe. He offered with 
his command to hold Girardeau's bluff against 
all comers. We marvel at the apathy and the 
negligence exhibited by the commander of the 
American forces. 

It lies not within the compass of this hour to 
recount the incidents of an engagement which 
quickly culminated in the capture of the capital 

1 Judge Charlton, in his Life of Major-General James Jack- 
son, p. 13, Augusta, Georgia, 1809, says : " The eye of a mil- 
itary man would at once have seen the importance of the Hill 
at the extremity of the causeway : it was the Thermopylae of 
Savannah." 



28 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

of Georgia, the loss of valuable stores, and the 
defeat of the Revolutionists. Attacked in front 
and rear the patriots soon gave way. When the 
retreat was sounded a panic ensued, and the 
Americans fled as best they could, and in a con- 
fused manner, through the town. Before the 
retiring army gained the head of the causeway 
over Musgrove's swamp,^ west of Savannah, — 
the only pass by which a retreat was practicable, 
— the enemy secured a position to interrupt the 
crossing. By extraordinary exertions Colonel 
Roberts kept the British in check until the 
centre of the army made its escape. The Ameri- 
can right flank, being between two fires, suffered 
severely. The Georgia mihtia, under Colonel 
Walton, who, shot through the thigh, fell from 
his horse and was made a prisoner, were wholly 
killed, wounded, or captured. The left, under 
the command of Colonel Elbert, continued the 
conflict with such pertinacity and gallantry that 
a retreat by the causeway became impracticable. 
That officer, therefore, attempted to lead his 
troops through the rice-fields lying between the 
Springfield causeway and the Savannah River. 
In doing so he encountered a heavy fire from 

^ This swamp, at a later date constituting a part of the 
Springfield plantation, and now so thoroughly drained, was then 
boggy, filled with brambles, and an almost impenetrable morass. 
It was here, on the morning of the 9th of October, 1779, that 
the assaulting columns, led by Count D'Estaing, encountered 
insuperable obstacles and frightful loss. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 29 

the enemy who had taken possession of the cause- 
way and of the adjacent high grounds of Ewens- 
burg. Reaching Musgrove Creek, Colonel El- 
bert found it filled with water, for the tide was 
high. Consequently, only those of his com- 
mand who could swim succeeded in crossing ; 
and this they did with the loss of their arms and 
accoutrements. The others were either drowned 
or captured. Being an expert swimmer. Colonel 
Elbert made his escape, and retreated with the 
remnant of the army into South Carolina. 
Southern Georgia, bereft of her defenders, was 
quickly overrun by the enemy, who exacted trib- 
ute the most stringent. 

Sunbury having fallen, and his arrangements 
for the occupation of all important posts along 
the right bank of the lower Savannah having 
been completed, Colonel Campbell resolved to 
push a column into the interior and finish the 
subjugation of the State by the capture of Au- 
gusta and the intimidation of the adjacent re- 
gion. In his advance he was confronted by Colo- 
nels Elbert, John Twiggs, and Benjamin and 
William Few. They were not strong enough, 
however, to defend the crossing at Brier Creek. 
Disappointed in the assistance which they ex- 
pected to receive from Colonels WilHamson 
and Clarke, they retired slowly, skirmishing with 
Colonel Campbell's column as it moved upon 
Augusta. Upon its appearance before that town, 



30 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

the Americans there posted retreated across the 
Savannah River, and Augusta, without a struggle, 
passed into the possession of the king's troops. 
This advanced position Colonel Campbell did 
not deem it prudent to hold, except for a little 
while. Warned by the rapidly increasing forces 
which General Benjamin Lincoln, newly arrived, 
was concentrating at Purrysburg and Black 
Swamp, he concluded to retire upon Ebenezer 
and Savannah. During this retrograde move- 
ment he was pursued by General John Ashe, 
with twenty-three hundred men, as far as Brier 
Creek. There this North CaroHna general halted, 
and encamped in the angle formed by that 
stream and the Savannah River. With this com- 
mand Colonel Elbert was present. 

At a council of war convened by General 
Lincoln at General Rutherford's headquarters 
at Williamson's plantation in Black Swamp, on 
the 1st of March, 1779, it was resolved that all 
available troops should be rapidly concentrated 
at General Ashe's camp, preparatory to an early 
and onward march for the recovery of Georgia. 
That officer announced his position as secure, 
and stated that his only need was a detachment 
of artillerists with one or two field-pieces. This 
want was recognized by General Lincoln, who 
ordered Major Grimke, with two light guns and 
a requisite number of cannoneers, to proceed to 
his assistance. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 31 

Advised of General Lincoln's intentions, Colo- 
nel Campbell determined by a quick and un- 
expected blow to defeat the contemplated con- 
centration of the American forces, and to 
frustrate this plan for circumscribing the king's 
troops in their occupation of Georgia soil. He 
resolved at once to dislodge General Ashe. 
Major McPherson, with the first battalion of 
the 71st regiment, some irregulars, and two field- 
pieces, and Lieutenant-Colonel Prevost, with 
the second battalion of the same regiment, Sir 
James Baird's corps of light infantry, three 
grenadier companies of the 60th regiment, Cap- 
tain Tawes' troop of light dragoons, and about 
one hundred and fifty men of the Florida ran- 
gers and militia, were detailed for this service. 
Well did they perform the duty to which they 
were assigned. The command of General Ashe 
had been so much reduced by details that on the 
day of the engagement it did not exceed eight 
hundred men present for duty. Many of these 
were poorly armed and inadequately supplied 
with ammunition. The lack of circumspection 
and the want of preparation which characterized 
the conduct of the commander of the Americans 
on this occasion excite our surprise and merit 
severe criticism. The enemy had reached his 
vicinity before he was assured of any hostile ap- 
proach. Hastily forming line of battle in three 
divisions, — the right under Colonel Young, the 



32 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

centre under General Bryant, and the left, con- 
sisting of sixty Continental troops, one hundred 
and fifty Georgia militia, and a field-piece, 
under the command of Colonel Elbert assisted 
by Lieutenant-Colonel John Mcintosh and Major 
John Habersham, — General Ashe advanced to 
a position about a quarter of a mile in front of 
his encampment and there awaited the enemy's 
attack. His left rested upon Brier Creek, and 
his right extended to within eight hundred yards 
of the Savannah River swamp. When within 
one hundred and fifty yards of the Americans, 
and at four o'clock in the afternoon, Colonel 
Prevost opened the engagement with his artillery 
and pressed forward. Ashe's centre, which was 
thrown a little in advance, did not withstand the 
shock even for a few moments. It broke and 
fled in wild confusion. The right also, so soon 
as it was pressed, followed suit. The left alone 
remained, and, under the valorous leadership of 
Colonel Elbert, fought so stubbornly that Pre- 
vost found it necessary to order up his reserves 
to support his right, which was confronted by this 
small but gallant body. Notwithstanding the 
great disparity in the numbers engaged, Elbert 
prolonged the conflict until nearly every man of 
his command was. either killed, wounded, or cap- 
tured. The fugitives from the American centre 
and right sought shelter in the deep swamp bor- 
dering upon the Savannah River. Such of them 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 33 

as escaped the pursuit of the enemy and could 
swim, crossed to the Carolina shore. Many were 
drowned in the attempt. Colonel Elbert, — 
whom Colonel Prevost in his report designates 
as one of the best officers in the rebel army, — 
twenty-seven other officers, and two hundred 
privates were taken prisoners. One hundred 
and fifty Americans were killed upon the field 
and in the adjacent swamps, exclusive of such as 
were drowned in attempting to save themselves 
from slaughter by plunging into a deep and 
rapid river. Seven pieces of field artillery, a 
considerable quantity of ammunition, provisions, 
and baggage, and one thousand small arms fell 
into the hands of the victors. The multitude 
slain would seemingly claim credence for the re- 
port that in their pursuit of the fugitive Amer- 
icans Sir James Baird cried aloud to his Hght 
infantry : " Every man of you that takes a 
prisoner shall lose his ration of rum." When 
overtaken in the Savannah River swamp, not a 
few of the militia were cruelly bayoneted by the 
exultant British soldiery. 

Never was encampment more injudiciously lo- 
cated or more insecurely guarded. Never was 
command held in worse plight for action. The 
only ray of light, amid the gloom of the whole 
affair, was shed by the gallantry of Colonel 
Elbert and his followers. This defeat at Brier 
Creek disconcerted General Lincoln's plans and, 

3 



34 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

in connection with General Howe's misfortune at 
Savannah, materially prolonged the struggle in 
this department. The tradition lives that Colo- 
nel Elbert, even when surrounded by the enemy, 
continued to offer the stoutest resistance. Final- 
ly he was struck down. A soldier was on the 
point of dispatching him with uplifted bayonet, 
when he gave the Masonic sign of distress. It 
was perceived by an officer, who intervened just 
in time to save the life of the brave Colonel. 

Doctor Joseph Johnson ^ says that while a 
prisoner in the British camp Colonel Elbert was 
treated with great respect and kindness. Offers 
of promotion, honors, and rewards were ex- 
tended, and persuasions used to seduce him from 
the American cause. His patriotism was proof 
against them all. These allurements having 
been repeatedly declined, an attempt was made, 
through the intervention of two Indians, to take 
his life. In his mercantile transactions Colonel 
Elbert had dealt largely with the Creeks and 
Cherokees, and his personal acquaintance with 
them was by no means limited. As the cap- 
tain of a grenadier company, during Governor 
Wright's administration, he had escorted a dep- 
utation of chiefs to their homes in the Creek 
country. Discovering the purpose of the sav- 
ages, he gave a signal which he had formerly used 

' 1 Traditions and Reminiscences, chiefly of the American Revolu- 
tion in the South, etc., p. 475. Charleston. 1851. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 35 

among them. They recognized it at once, and, 
lowering their guns, the hired assassins came 
forward and extended their hands in token of 
amity. This dastardly attempt is not chargeable 
to the officers of the British army. From them 
Colonel Elbert, during his captivity, was the re- 
cipient only of courtesy and manly consideration. 
It is believed that it was suggested by lawless 
marauders and loyalists infesting the region, in 
the punishment of whose acts of atrocity Colonel 
Elbert had been most active.^ 

When he was exchanged in June, 1781, so 
thoroughly was his former command dispersed, 
and so completely were Georgia and South Car- 
olina under the control of the enemy, that he 
waited upon the commander-in-chief and ten- 
dered his services. They were accepted by Gen- 
eral Washington, who assigned him to duty. 
At the siege of Yorktown he was entrusted with 
the command of " the grand deposit of arms 
and military stores, a post of great trust and 
honor." Here, as elsewhere, he merited and re- 
ceived the commendation of all. With General 



^ During the siege of Savannah in September and October, 
1779, as we learn from a letter written by Colonel Joseph Haber- 
sham, dated " Col Wylly's Tent near Savannah, 28th September 
1779," and now in the possession of William Neyle Habersham, 
Esqr., Colonel Elbert was held a captive within the British 
lines. Painful must have been his emotions, finding himself 
still a prisoner, and incapable of uniting with his compatriots in 
the brave effort to liberate his home from British dominion. 



36 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

Lafayette he contracted a firm friendship. One 
of his sons he named in compliment to the dis- 
tinguished marquis. Colonel Elbert continued 
in the military service of the United Colonies 
until the close of the Revolutionary War. He 
was, as v^e have seen, appointed to a Lieutenant- 
Colonelcy in February, 1776. On the 16th of 
September in the same year he was advanced to 
the grade of Colonel in the Continental army ; 
and on the 3d of November, 1783, he received 
his commission as Brigadier-General. Subse- 
quently he was complimented by the State of 
Georgia with the position of Major-General of 
militia. 

When, upon the conclusion of peace, the 
patriot army was disbanded, General Elbert re- 
turned to Savannah and resumed his commercial 
pursuits. In July, 1785, by an almost unani- 
mous vote, he was elected Governor of Georgia. 
In the discharge of the duties of this high station 
he manifested the same ability, energy, diligence, 
good judgment, decision of character, and ex- 
alted manhood which had characterized him in 
other positions. Between the rivers Satilla and 
St. Mary a band of freebooters had established 
themselves. There they accumulated negroes, 
horses, and cattle which they had stolen from 
the honest and patriotic citizens of Georgia. 
They were a pest to the neighborhood, defied 
the laws, and plundered the adjacent territory. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 37 

One of the first official acts of Governor Elbert 
was to commission Colonel John Baker, with a 
sufficient force, to capture and disperse these 
villains, and restore the property in their posses- 
sion to its rightful owners. His efforts were 
also directed to the pacification of the Indians 
who, on the northern confines of the State, 
" incited by disaffected and mercenary persons," 
were committing depredations and disturbing 
the peace of the region. 

In acknowledgment of the universal respect 
and gratitude for his meritorious services to the 
youthful commonwealth and in the cause of 
American freedom during the Revolutionary 
War, the General Assembly of Georgia compli- 
mented Count D'Estaing with a grant of twenty 
thousand acres of land, and invested him with 
"all the privileges, liberties, and immunities of 
a free citizen of the State." It was the pleasing 
duty of Governor Elbert, through Commissioner 
John McQueen, to communicate to the Count 
this expression of the public esteem. In return- 
ing his thanks, this illustrious Frenchman said : 
" The mark of its satisfaction which the State 
of Georgia was pleased to give me after I had 
been wounded, was the most healing balm that 
could have been applied to my pains whenever 
they were most acute. Nothing could be more 
flattering than to be admitted as a proprietor 
in a State that has so much distinguished itself 



38 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

in supporting the common cause." It was his 
avowed purpose, with a portion of the proceeds 
of the sale of these lands, to erect, at the en- 
trance of Paris, a monument " to the States," 
commemorative of *' the glory of the King and 
of those patriots who contributed to the epoch 
of liberty." The distractions in France which 
quickly supervened, his engagements as vice- 
admiral of the navy, and his tragic fate pre- 
vented the consummation of this memorable 
intention. The gubernatorial career of General 
Elbert was honorable and prosperous. 

Several times did he act as the representative 
of the State of Georgia in accommodating diffi- 
culties and negotiating treaties with the Creek 
and Cherokee Indians. Among the latter, that 
concluded at the Augusta Convention, held on 
the 31st of May, 1783, in which Georgia was 
represented by Governor Lyman Hall, General 
John Twiggs, Colonel Elijah Clarke, Colonel 
William Few, the Honorable Edward Telfair, and 
General Samuel Elbert, will be specially remem- 
bered. On that occasion eighteen of the leading 
chiefs and head warriors of the Cherokees were 
present. General Elbert's acquaintance with 
the Indian nations was, as we have seen, exten- 
sive, and his influence over them quite marked. 
Alexander McGillivray was at one time a clerk 
in his counting-house. 

Secure in the esteem and accompanied by the 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 39 

gratitude of his fellow-citizens, upon the expira- 
tion of his term of office as Governor of Georgia 
General Elbert was elected Sheriff of the county 
of Chatham.^ Of this lucrative and responsible 
position was he the incumbent when overtaken 
by death at the early age of forty-eight years. 
As a soldier he was brave, active, and intelli- 
gent. Among his companions he was known as 
a dashing officer and a hard fighter. Never did 
he abandon a field which could be held by stub- 
born valor. Gentlemanly in deportment, hand- 
some in person, erect and graceful in carriage, 
and gallant in bearing, he was magnetic in his 
intercourse and commanding in his influence. 
His social qualities were of an attractive charac- 
ter, and his intellectual and moral endowments of 
a high order. For military affairs he possessed 
a natural fondness and manifested uncommon 
aptitude. His reputation was above reproach. 
His benevolence was large, and his impulses were 
open, generous, patriotic, chivalrous, and noble. 
He was one of those excellent and good men 
who, in the language of Emerson, "make the 
earth wholesome." By the entire community 
was his demise sincerely mourned, and the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Georgia, in acknowledgment of 

^ The office of Sheriff was at this time esteemed of prime dig- 
nity and moment. The tradition, inherited from the mother 
country, that the High Sheriff should be the best man of his 
county, had not then been either forgotten or ignored in the youth- 
ful commonwealth. 



40 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

his valuable public services and in perpetuation 
of his good fame, named in his honor one of 
the most fertile counties within the limits of 
this commonwealth. We conclude this sketch 
by reproducing from the "Georgia Gazette" the 
following contemporaneous notice of his death 
and burial : — 

"Died last Saturday,^ after a lingering sick- 
ness, aged 48 years, Samuel Elbert, Major 
General of the Militia of this State, Vice Pres- 
ident of the Society of Cincinnati, and Sheriff 
of the County of Chatham. His death was an- 
nounced by the discharge of minute guns, and 
the colours of Fort Wayne and the vessels in 
the harbour being displayed half-mast high. An 
early and warm attachment to the cause of his 
country stimulated him to exert those natural 
talents he possessed for a military life through- 
out the late glorious and successful contest with 
ability and general approbation, for which he 
was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General 
in the Army of the United States. 

" In the year 1785, his country chose him, by 
their general suffrage. Governor and Commander- 
in-Chief of the State, which office he executed 
with fidelity, and discharged its various duties 
with becoming attention and dignity. The ap- 
pointments of Major General of the Militia, and 
Sheriff of this County, were further marks of 

1 November 1, 1788. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 41 

the confidence o£ his country, whose interests 
he had always at heart, and whose appointments 
he received and executed with a grateful re- 
membrance that his conduct through life had 
met the approbation of his fellow citizens. In 
private life he was among the first to promote 
useful and benevolent societies. As a Chris- 
tian he bore his painful illness with patience 
and firmness, and looked forward to his great 
change with an awful and fixed hope of future 
happiness. As a most affectionate husband and 
parent, his widow and six children have great 
cause to lament his end, and society in general 
to regret the loss of a valuable member. His 
remains were attended on Sunday to Christ 
Church by the Ancient Society of Masons [of 
which he was the Past Grand Master in this 
State], with the members of the Cincinnati as 
mourners, accompanied by a great number of 
his fellow citizens whom the Rev : Mr Lindsay 
addressed in a short but well adapted discourse on 
the solemn occasion. Minute guns were fired 
during the funeral, and every other honour was 
paid his memory by a respectable military pro- 
cession composed of the Artillery and other 
Militia Companies. The body was afterwards 
deposited at the family burial place on the 
Mount at Rae's Hall." ^ 



^ The Georgia Gazette, No. 302. Savannah, Georgia. No- 
vember 6, 1788. 



42 MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 

The Indian grave-mound near the confluence 
of Pipe-Maker's Creek and the Savannah River, 
which a later generation appropriated as a con- 
venient place for modern sepulture, still stands, 
marking the spot where, nearly a century agone, 
the dust of a General in the army of the Revolu- 
tion, of an honored citizen, and of a Governor 
of this commonwealth mingled with the ashes 
of the ancestors of the venerable Tomo-chi-chi. 
Although Rae's Hall has passed into the owner- 
ship of strangers, — although his memorial stone 
has fallen, — although soulless brambles and 
envious forest trees have obliterated all traces of 
the inhumation, — the name of Samuel Elbert 
is enshrined in the annals of Georgia, and his 
memory will be cherished by all who are not un- 
mindful of the lessons inculcated by a life of 
virtue, of valor, of probity, of benevolence, of 
patriotism, and of fidelity to trust reposed. 



Thus, my friends of the Georgia Historical 
Society, reviving these memories as they have 
been gleaned amid the lights and shadows of a 
remote and heroic past, and grouping them into 
a tribute expressive of our grateful appreciation 
of uncommon virtue and excellence, we offer 
this memorial of one who deserves high place 
in this HalP dedicated to the perpetuation of 

^ The address was delivered in Hodgson Hall, the home of 
the Georgia Historical Society. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL ELBERT. 43 

characters and events memorable in the history 
of this colony and commonwealth. Due preser- 
vation of and suitable meditation upon such rec- 
ollections constitute no mean part of your mis- 
sion, which, if worthily pursued, will enure to 
the general good, and encourage in the present 
a generous emulation of whatever dignified and 
ennobled the days that are gone. 

** There is a history in all men's lives, 
Figuring the nature of the times deceas'd ; 
The which observ'd a man may prophesy, 
With a near aim, of the main chance of things 
As yet not corae to life, which in their seeds. 
And weak beginnings lie intreasured. 
Such things become the hatch and brood of time." 



mm^. &Q^me^.<^/. 




Augusta, Georgia, December 4, 1886. 



SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. 
I. 

The white population of Georgia, at the inception of the 
war of the Revolution, did not probably exceed twenty 
thousand, of all ages. Governor Wright,^ on the 20th of 
December, 1773, reported to the Earl of Dartmouth that 
there were then inhabiting the province eighteen thousand 
whites and fifteen thousand blacks. During the continu- 
ance of the struggle Georgia contributed to the Continental 
army two thousand six hundred and seventy-nine men. 
Such, at least, is the best information which can be ob- 
tained.^ 

With regard to the militia, called from time to time into 
the field, Major-General James Jackson, who, in subordi- 
nate capacities and as a major and lieutenant-colonel, was 
an active participant in the entire contest, furnishes this 
estimate. He says that during the year 1775, and until 
the spring of 1776, Georgia had one thousand militiamen 
in service. For the years 1776 and 1777 he computes the 
militia in active service at seven hundred and fifty, ex- 
clusive of two battalions of minutemen of seven hundred 
and fifty each, a state regiment of horse two hundred and 
fifty strong, and three additional troops of forty men each, 
nnder the command of a major. In 1778, besides the state 
corps, two thousand militiamen were in the field for nearly 
six months. During the years 1779, 1780, 1781, and 1782 

1 P. K. O. Am. & W. Ind., No. 235. 

"^ Lossing's Pictioral Field-Book of the Revolution, vol. ii. p. 631. 
New York. 1859. 



SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. 45 

he estimates the militia constantly in service at seven hun- 
dred and fifty men. Among these was not included his 
own Legion, formed by order of General Greene in 1781. 
When to these we add many partisans never borne upon 
the roUs of either the Continental or the State establish- 
ment, and who depended almost exclusively upon their own 
resources and exertions for arms, munitions, and subsistence, 
it will readily be perceived that the entire manhood of the 
Republican element must, at some time or other, have been 
actively enlisted in the warlike effort to win the independ- 
ence of the confederated States. Georgia — the youngest 
of the thirteen colonies — certainly contributed her full 
quota of men and resources in the achievement of Amer- 
ican liberty. 

II. 

The following is a roster of the First Eegiment op 
Chatham County Militia, when Samuel Elbert was 
Major-General of the State forces ^ : — 

James Jackson, Colonel Commanding. 

James Gunn, Lieutenant-Colonel. 

Benjamin Fishbourne, Major. 

Justus H. Scheuber, Adjutant. 

Jacob Waldburg, Clerk of the Regiment. 

Light Dkagoons. 
First Lieutenant, Isaac Young. 
Second Lieutenant, David Sarzedas. 
Cornet, Isaac Lagardere. 

Artillery. 

Captain, Edward Lloyd. 
First Lieutenant, Thomas Elfe. 
Second Lieutenant, John Wanden. 
1 See MS. Order Book of Colonel James Jackson. 



.y' 



/ 



46 SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. 



Light Infantry. 

Captain, Benjamin Lloyd. 
First Lieutenant, Elisha Elon. 
Second Lieutenant, Benjamin Butler 

Savannah. 

Captain, Frederick Shick. 
Lieutenant, Joseph Welscher. 

Sea Islands. 

Captain, John Barnard. 

First Lieutenant, Robert Barnard. 
Second Lieutenant, Solomon Shad. 

White Bluff. 

Captain, Josiah Tattnall. 
First Lieutenant, John King. 
Second Lieutenant, Peter Theus. 

Little Ogeechee. 

Captain, David Rees. 

First Lieutenant, Benjamin WUson. 

Second Lieutenant, James Martin Gibbons. 

Cherokee Hill. 

Captain, . 

First Lieutenant, Thomas Palmer. 
Second Lieutenant, . 

Great Ogeechee. 

Captain, Robert Holmes. 

First Lieutenant, Edmund Adams. 

Second Lieutenant, Simons Maxwell, 



SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. 47 

The town of Savannah then constituted " one militia dis- 
trict," and Captain Shick was designated as its commanding 
officer. Although the war had ended, rude alarms were 
not infrequent. Indian tribes beyond the Alatamaha, and 
at other points on the confines of the white settlements, 
were restless and inclined to indulge in depredations and 
murders. Upon the evacuation of Savannah three hundred 
runaway slaves, who had been enlisted by the British 
during their occupancy of the town, refused to return to the 
service of their owners. Styling themselves the " King of 
England's soldiers," and attracting to their companionship 
the disaffected of their own color, they established them- 
selves in the fastnesses of the swamps on both sides of the 
Savannah River, whence they sallied forth by night for 
plunder and butchery, to the disquietude and annoyance of 
the adjacent inhabitants. One of their fortified camps on 
Bear Creek, in Effingham County, was, in May, 1786, car- 
ried by the First Regiment of the Chatham County Militia, 
assisted by troops from Beaufort, South CaroUna. Although 
many of the marauders were either killed or captured with 
arms in their hands, numbers escaped, who, concealing 
themselves in tangled brakes, continued, as opportunity oc- 
curred, their work of theft and violence. The period was, 
in many quarters, fraught with anxiety and apprehension. 
Fears were entertained of a servile insurrection. The office 
of a militiaman was then by no means a sinecure, and for 
several years after the cessation of hostilities between Eng- 
land and the United Colonies the duties of the companies 
composing the Chatham regiment were onerous. Gradually, 
however, domestic peace was confirmed. In the restora- 
tion of order and tranquillity the militia of Georgia ren- 
dered efficient service. 

So great was the scarcity of powder in the possession of 
the military authorities in Savannah, that Colonel James 
Jackson, on the 22d of June, 1786, apologizes for an ex- 
penditure of one hundred pounds " at the funeral of that 



48 SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. 

great and good man, General Greene." In his communica- 
tion to the secretary of the Executive Council he inquires : 
" Will Council be so good as to let me know if they ap- 
prove of my conduct, for I would rather pay for that powder 
myself than lay under a censure for it? It was thought 
here by all ranks of people the least that could be shown 
the remains of that hero by the State of Georgia." 



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